it were objected that we are too sanguine in our hopes, that 
the midberry tree might be injured by such an early stripping, I 
would suggest to recur to an expedient resorted to in France, not 
only by the hasty grower, but by most of the growers, and which, 
rather expensive in France, where the value of an acre of land 
averages from £30 to £10, would be no consideration here, where 
the price of land (£1 per acre) is comparatively nominal. The 
suggested expedient consists in planting the mulberry trees, 
partly for trees of full growth, and partly for shrubs , so that we 
might soon have with the shrubs plenty of food for our successive 
educations of silkworms, and at the same time should leave our 
trees to their free and full growth, without being injured by a 
premature stripping. 
5th Dearness of Labour. This is an obstacle, and a serious 
one indeed. But is not labor equally dear for every branch of 
industry? And yet does not every branch of industry thrive 
when conducted wisely, soberly, and patiently? Why should the 
dearness of labor be an obstacle to the silkworm industry more 
than to any other, if it can be demonstrated by facts and figures 
that, making an allowance for the diflereuce in the cost of labor, 
the scheme would in the end still give a fair return. 
And in fact, the dearness of labor is to a great extent compen¬ 
sated by the cheapness of land : let us not forget that here we 
pay only £1 f if what in France they have to pay £30 or £40. 
Let us make a fair allowance for fencing, grubbing, clearing, 
ploughing and planting, and we shall still find a balance of 50 per 
cent in favor of the cost price of land in this colony. And let us 
further consider that the more we advance, the dearer land, and 
the cheaper labor will be. 
We hasten to add a consideration; it is, that the main labor 
is required only for a period of ah,out sixty days every year, and 
just at a time when there is no call for labor (from Oct." to Dec.) 
when people are idle, and would be very glad to find employment. 
The greatest part of the labor is performed by lads and lasses, 
for whom it is more an amusement than a task. 
Yet the question of dearness of labor is a hard one, which I 
•would*not like to decide myself, but would rather leave to the 
judgement of those who may read these lines. I will content 
myself by showing what the outlay, aunuifl expenses, and annual 
return are in France for a given area of land, for a given quantity 
of seed, and so on ; and then with these data it will be easy to 
draw a comparison between France and Victoria, and ultimately 
to find out whether the latter could benefit by the industry as 
well as the former. 
Should the answer be in the affirmative, I would beg to give a 
